How did I get here? I started off as a starving artist type, never really cared about money (=evil) until I had to do crappy jobs to get by, and I couldn’t stand feeling tied up to a job for life: that’s how I discovered FIRE (I don’t remember how?), then YMOYL and eventually ERE, as well as Robert Wringham. FIRE seemed like a distant dream for high-earning Americans whereas YMOYL/ERE/escapology seemed doable on a lower salary.
That’s how I got hooked; but I stayed because of the focus on ecology, and started to see the beauty of system thinking, and how I could connect everything in the pursuit of ..balance on Earth, no less. (I’m INFP and my moral compass is loud!).
I started spending time lurking here in 2020, when I was unemployed, living at my mother’s and feeling like a massive failure. When I started tracking my money flows, I had no debt, 500 € in savings, 500 €/month in income and very low expenses (thanks mum... and lockdown). I counted my possessions, sold old music instruments and camera, found an extremely shitty but stress-free job, started training for a new degree (that was planned beforehand), then got a much better job and a room in a shared flat, and here I am now, hoping to reach 10 000 € NW at the end of the year (currently around 6500). That seems very low compared to most here, but for me that was unimaginable two years ago, and I read somewhere in here that the first 10 000 were the hardest, so…
I am trying to wrap my head around this money issue but any way I put it, I haven’t found (yet?) a way to invest that is easily accessible, works in my country and suits my ethical concerns. I am starting from scratch and have everything to learn, I just wonder where to start learning (I was thinking of reading Debt : The First 5000 Years by David Graeber). I tend to naturally focus more on ecology and lifestyle, but let’s be a Renaissance woman, shall we ? I don’t really pursue early retirement, it still seems completely ot of reach and not necessarily my focus, but to me ERE is like a compass, I know what to do, let’s just see where it leads
Thank you so much to Jacob and every poster here, I have learned so much in these two years, I think the change is for life. It really is like Matrix’s red pill. One unexpected side effect has been on mental health (due to physical activity, nutrition… but also the feeling of moving towards a higher purpose in a very practical way). And I really needed the boost, so thank you, really.
I’ll probably start a journal, still need to figure out how exactly. Thanks for reading!
Thanks for the reminder Jean.